Post: #1

http://www.republicreport.org/2012/marij...y-illegal/


Last year, over 850,000 people in America were arrested for marijuana-related crimes. Despite public opinion, the medical community, and human rights experts all moving in favor of relaxing marijuana prohibition laws, little has changed in terms of policy.

There have been many great books and articles detailing the history of the drug war. Part of America’s fixation with keeping the leafy green plant illegal is rooted in cultural and political clashes from the past.

However, we at Republic Report think it’s worth showing that there are entrenched interest groups that are spending large sums of money to keep our broken drug laws on the books:

1.) Police Unions: Police departments across the country have become dependent on federal drug war grants to finance their budget. In March, we published a story revealing that a police union lobbyist in California coordinated the effort to defeat Prop 19, a ballot measure in 2010 to legalize marijuana, while helping his police department clients collect tens of millions in federal marijuana-eradication grants. And it’s not just in California. Federal lobbying disclosures show that other police union lobbyists have pushed for stiffer penalties for marijuana-related crimes nationwide.

2.) Private Prisons Corporations: Private prison corporations make millions by incarcerating people who have been imprisoned for drug crimes, including marijuana. As Republic Report’s Matt Stoller noted last year, Corrections Corporation of America, one of the largest for-profit prison companies, revealed in a regulatory filing that continuing the drug war is part in parcel to their business strategy. Prison companies have spent millions bankrolling pro-drug war politicians and have used secretive front groups, like the American Legislative Exchange Council, to pass harsh sentencing requirements for drug crimes.

3.) Alcohol and Beer Companies: Fearing competition for the dollars Americans spend on leisure, alcohol and tobacco interests have lobbied to keep marijuana out of reach. For instance, the California Beer & Beverage Distributors contributed campaign contributions to a committee set up to prevent marijuana from being legalized and taxed.

4.) Pharmaceutical Corporations: Like the sin industries listed above, pharmaceutical interests would like to keep marijuana illegal so American don’t have the option of cheap medical alternatives to their products. Howard Wooldridge, a retired police officer who now lobbies the government to relax marijuana prohibition laws, told Republic Report that next to police unions, the “second biggest opponent on Capitol Hill is big PhRMA” because marijuana can replace “everything from Advil to Vicodin and other expensive pills.”

5.) Prison Guard Unions: Prison guard unions have a vested interest in keeping people behind bars just like for-profit prison companies. In 2008, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association spent a whopping $1 million to defeat a measure that would have “reduced sentences and parole times for nonviolent drug offenders while emphasizing drug treatment over prison.”

Post: #2

Rockefeller's CFR who does not want competition with the fuel oil industry, pharX meds, and they want a police state for world govt.

Post: #3

my God, that is almost a million people just using something that is a lot less toxic than tobacco or alcohol to relax or mitigate health conditions with a natural herb.

that is just wrong.

they need to drag out Roe vs. Wade and use it to change the laws.

many people do not realize, but Roe vs. Wade affirmed people's right to control their own bodies and make their own health decisions.

Post: #4

Big tobacco
Big oil
Big plastics 3M
Big paper

Post: #5

Post: #6

Ishtahota  Wrote:

Big tobacco
Big oil
Big plastics 3M
Big paper

You forgot Big Law enforcement bro...

Thats a real cash cow for all the stake holders there.

.

Post: #7

Doesn't matter who THEY are-they're losing the battle.
More and more people are choosing to consume the weed every day and these morons attempts at "controlling" the situation are doing absolutely jack shit towards stopping the growing numbers

Post: #8

ALEC wants to keep CCA's prison cells full of relatively harmless pot smokers for which they can charge the tax payer $40K annually for each.

Post: #9

http://imgc.allpostersimages.com/images/...he-war.jpg

Post: #10

But Micheal Savage says pot is really bad for you.

Post: #11

this is just absolute proof of what a mad world it is. our society is run by malignant egophreniacs with an indomitable will for cutting off their nose to spite their own face.

Post: #12

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHqjHFrzGwk

Post: #13

Hemp has always been evil, to the evil companies.

Post: #14

LoP Guest  Wrote:

Rockefeller's CFR who does not want competition with the fuel oil industry, pharX meds, and they want a police state for world govt.

Bullseye baby!

Post: #15

Tune 440  Wrote:

Ishtahota  Wrote:

Big tobacco
Big oil
Big plastics 3M
Big paper

You forgot Big Law enforcement bro...

Thats a real cash cow for all the stake holders there.

.

And the banks. Money-laundering all that drugmoney must be pretty lucrative.
Casinos and real estate developers and RE agents as well - also for money laundering.

And lawyers -defence lawyers, prosecutors, plus lawyers that help out with shady money laundering transactions like shell companies, offshoring money and real estate transactions...